In the first four weeks of the 2014-2015 season, ABC shows earned a 2.13 average rating among 18-49 viewers when looking at Nielsen’s C3 ratings -- the average commercial ratings plus three days of time-shifted viewing -- from September 22 through October 19.
For ABC, this result is virtually identical to its C3 18-49 ratings of a year ago -- a 2.14 -- at this point in the season.
NBC is next at a 1.92 rating, down 14% from a year ago when it had a leading 2.23 rating in non-sports prime-time programming.
CBS is in third place with a 1.88 rating, off 10% from a year ago when it was at a 2.08. Fox is in fourth place with a 1.54, sharply down 23% from its 1.99 rating. The CW is in fifth place at a 0.56, slipping 5% from its 0.59 rating of a year ago.
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Both NBC and CBS garner bigger overall prime-time ratings because of their respective highly rated NFL prime-time packages -- NBC with “Sunday Night Football” and CBS with the new “Thursday Night Football."
The results also exclude ABC’s college football programming on Saturday night and early-evening Sunday night NFL games that spill into early prime-time periods from late afternoon starts.
ABC boasts the top broadcast drama in C3 with rookie show “How To Get Away with Murder.” “Murder” is on ABC’s Thursday night -- the highest non-sports C3 18-49 ratings night, averaging a 3.47 rating. Other shows on that night include “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal.”